Twist of Destiny
On the road in a small city not far off from The Fairy Tail Guild was at rest Ray Martinez who had not too long ago finished a mission and was seeking an inn to sleep for the night. Along with his best friend, the two were sleeping peacefully in an inn as they were preparing to wake up early in the morning to head back to the guild. In the midst of a mission, Richard Buchanan, a famous mage among the military, stood in the shadows, hiding from those who pursued his trail. Speeding through Magnolia Town without any hesitation, he slithered, avoiding the crowd as he eventually reached the end of the town. Waving his hand, he said." Can you catch up with me...here?" Richard leaped into the forest, pursuers following him, they lost his track, but, unrelenting, they traversed to the mountains, hoping Richard lay there. However, in the meantime, Richard was sleeping in a big tall tree, tired as he was, he kept sleeping, only muttering." Mission accomplished." After an hour's more rest Ray's partner Orso nugged his stomach causing him to wake up looking outside as it was still dark. Putting on his clothes and walking out the Inn he was riding Orso till they both reached the base of the mountain, suddenly Orso smelled a strange scent and started to growl at a nearby tree. Ray got off and went to investigate but when he reached his hand forward, he stopped as a young man was sleeping on the trunk of the tree. "Hello?" He called hoping the stranger was still alive and really asleep. Richard, as usual, continued to sleep, not even bothering to register the other person's presence, he made sure that he appeared asleep by loudly snoring, something he did unconsciously, but could easily prevent."Honestly, don't ruin my sleep weirdo" Richard thought to himself. Ray rolled his eyes knowing that the man was playing jokes on him and decided to play one on him, "Oh well he's knocked out, hey Orso hungry?" Ray asked as the bear roared and ran with his mouth watering right at the person as Ray moved to the side. " Hooray, someone wants to ruin my sleep." Richard's voice echoed through the forest, he had disappeared, and already appeared behind the bear, sword in hand, and near the bear's throat. In the moment Ray wasn't looking, Richard had created a brief afterimage on the tree while he himself leaped down and without any effort, snuck up on the bear, appearing behind it with little effot." So? What do you want? I'm just sleeping you know." "Just making sure you were alive that's all, by the way Orso doesn't eat human just fish so I'd appreciate it if you let him go." Ray said as he closed his eyes while energy started putting pressure around them. " Haha, well, he's a good bear isn't he?" Richard commented, sheathing his blade." May I ask why you are exerting your magical energy? It's not good to disrupt such a lively habitat, is it?" Ray smiled and allowed the energy to drop as Orso came towards his Master and licked him, "Anyone who tries to hurt my best friend often irritate's me but your're alright by me. I'm Ray Martinez, how are you?" He asked extending his hand for a shake. " Did you mean "who"? Anyways, I'm Richard Buchanan. I'm just a mage of the military who had to complete a mission. I like sleeping a lot you see, but I rarely get to, so I use whatever opportunity I get. But you seem interesting. Why are you here anyway?" Richard asked, with more enthusiasm than he normally would, this man seemed to be rather interesting in Richard's eyes. "I actually finished a mission some time ago and I was headed home when I got tired and went for a nap." Ray said as Orso went to the river to catch some fish while his Master and the stranger talked. "I felt you running away from some guys which woke Orso up and he woke me up." " Ah, those guys. Yeah, they were some randoms I didn't want to bother messing around with." Richard yawned, as he asked Ray." You up for something interesting? I haven't had a good spar in ages, and I haven't met any S-Class Mages in a while." "Hmmm...." Ray said as he was looking up into the sky to try and think about what he wanted. "I know my instincts are telling me to say no but I've never turned down a good sparring." Ray answered with a smile as he took off his cloak and revealed his claws as they came out of his gaunlets on his hands. " You seem very....bear-like. But no matter." Richard began drawing his blade, as Ray had no idea what was in store for him. Ray took a fighting stance and stood at the ready hoping that he would be strong enough to handle this person, suddenly he charged black energy in his claw and slashed down. Three energy slashes headed right towards Richard. Viewing the energy slashes, Richard immediately took a stance and drew his blade with his right hand, the blade lay idle in the air for a brief moment as suddenly, the three slashes were cleaved in half, all while Richard's blade lay in hand, the same position as it was moments before, with only a slight hint of magic disappearing from it." Phew, that was a strong attack!" Richard mockingly said, smirking while doing so. Ray smiled knowing when he was being mocked but kept his focus and did not let the insult get to him, right then and there he focused his energy through the ground as he sent out a powerful rock wave attack while at the same time two claws of stone appeared right next to Richard. " Tsch." Richard moaned slightly, this guy's attacks were so predictable it annoyed him. Simply chanting." Dispersion" Richard's magical power began to exert, creating a dense layer of mist which erased his presence entirely. Richard simply walked while the mist was active. He could not be traced through conventional means, and Richard, taking advantage of this easily dodged Ray's attacks, by simply leaping back into the tree that he slept on previously. Richard stood there, unimpressed by the tactics his opponent had used against him, he, with a wave of his hand gathered his magical energy in such a way that created a volley of arrows which he fired against his opponent. Descending upon him from his blind spot, Richard displaced himself in thin air, his presence wasn't found, Richard hid, waiting for the opportune moment to attack his opponent. The arrows headed towards Ray who could not see which way but could hear the sounds of them slicing through the wind, as hit their mark, he unleashed a Zocato shock-wave that managed to shield him from the arrow's lethal strikes but still took some damage from the impact. As he powered down the shield, he looked around the area cautiously trying to pinpoint where Richard could be. "With this irritiating fog on top of me, he has the advantege making it dificult for me to sense him. Which means it's time for some of my old training moves." ''He thought in his mind as he retracted the claws and closed his eyes taking in deep breaths, after a few he took his fighting stance and waited. "''Retracting his claws....must mean that he is more cautious. Well, this should prove rather interesting." Richard smirked as he began to use his immense speed to his advantage. He drew his sword once again, slicing it ever so slightly to cause the air pressure around him to make a slight noise, a noise easily mistaken for a step. He continued these slicing motions, hoping to mislead Ray's senses, and attack when the opportunity was right. All around the area, Ray could hear each different noise as if Richard was all over him but instead of focusing on the sounds he kept focus on the earth as he used his Seismic Sensing trying to tell the noises from the actual footsteps. Suddenly Ray focused his magic making multiple columns in random order all around the forest taking a significant amount of magic. He put his hands on the closest one and waited while putting on a Zocato-like shield around his body, he then started to move quickly from one column to another to try and force Richard to attack him and hit a coloumn and make Ray able to strike when it was right.